1.Have
you ever asked God the question: Why God are you allowing me or my loved ones
to suffer like this?If you have ever
gone through some type of emotional, spiritual, or physical pain, then chances
are you have asked or thought about this question.

a.That question went through the minds of
Daryl and Clarita Gusstafson?This God
loving, dedicated Christian couple was infertile for many years, despite
exhaustive medical tests and procedures.They prayed consistently for God to grant them the privilege of bringing
a child into the world, but the heavens were silent and the womb remained barren.Then one day it happened, Clarita discovered
that she was pregnant.God had spoken
at last.A healthy baby boy was born
seven months later, and he was named Aaron, after Moses’ brother.This child was their pride and joy.

b.When Aaron was three years old, however,
he was diagnosed as having a very dangerous form of cancer.What followed were 10 months of painful
chemotherapy and radiation treatment.In spite of all the efforts to arrest the disease, Aaron’s little body
continued to deteriorate.Despite many
prayers and countless tears, Aaron went to be with the Lord in 1992, at four
years of age.

c.And so the question echoed in Daryl and
Clarita’s mind “Why God did you allow our precious child to suffer like this?

2.Brethren,
in the Bible there are many reasons why we experience pain and suffering.

a.We
suffer because of the Nature of Sin.

b.We
suffer so that our character may be built up.

c.We
may suffer because God is showcasing us to Satan like He did with Job.

3.But
the message that I am going to present this morning is not geared around why we
suffer, but how we can handle it.

THIS MORNING, I WILL DELIVER THREE CRUCIAL
PRINCIPLES THAT WE SHOULD REFLECT ON WHEN WE ARE SUFFERING PHYSICALLY, OR
EMOTIONALLY.

I.FIRST, DURING OUR TIMES OF SUFFERING, GOD
IS NEAR EVEN WHEN HE SEEMS FAR AWAY.

1.When we experience difficult trials and
tribulations, we normally pray to God and ask Him for immediate relief.However, as we all know, God answers prayer
in His own time, so we may not receive immediate help from Him.We may have to go through many days, or
weeks, or months or years of trying times.

2.And after suffering awhile we start
wondering why God hasn't intervened.We
begin questioning ourselves. What have I done to deserve this and then we begin
to question whether or not God even cares.We feel as though God has abandoned us and that He is nowhere to be
found.We feel alone and isolated from
God.

3.Have you ever felt this way?

a.In
the Bible, many great men of God experienced these types of emotions.

(1)For example, David experienced a feeling
of isolation from God when he was running for his life from Saul.

We
read in (Ps. 13:1), that David Cried out to God and said, “How long, O
Lord?Will you forget me
forever?How long will you hide
your face from me?” If you read the rest of the Psalm,
you will realize that David, who was obedient to God at this time,
believed that God was not with him during his time of intense trials.He felt isolated from God.

(2)Job, who lost everything--his children,
his wealth, his servants, his reputation, and his friends--experienced despair
and isolation from God.

Read...
(Job 23:1-9).

4.Brethren, it is common and natural to feel
Isolated from God when we experience difficult times, however, the Bible
assures us that God is present even when He seems far away!

5.Even when God seems 1,000 miles away and
uninterested in our affairs, He is with us step-by-step during difficult
times.A wonderful illustration of
this unseen presence is described in (Luke 24:13-35 esp. vs. 15).

In this passage, two of Jesus’ disciples
were walking toward a village called Emmaus.They just came from Jerusalem and were undoubtedly very upset and
depressed because they witnessed the crucifixion of their Lord Jesus.They were not only discouraged because Jesus
was dead, but also because it was the third day and they had hoped that Jesus
would have been raised from the dead, as their Lord promised.

They must have given up hope on Jesus’
resurrection and decided to head home, back to their old way of life.But as they were walking, something
marvelous happened.In(vv. 15 & 16),
the Bible said, “As they talked and discussed these things
with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them…”

These men, who were most certainly
experiencing emotional and spiritual pain because of Jesus’ death, did not know
that Jesus was walking right along with them the whole time.During their time of anguish, Jesus was next
to their side.

6.My friends, if we are faithful, God is
walking right along with us especially during our times of suffering, even when
we feel isolated from Him.He has not
abandoned us, for we are His children and He loves us and cares for us.We must realize that He is watching over us
and is doing what is best for us.

(1 Pet. 5:7) tells us to
cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.Does this sound like a God who cares
little about our problems?

7.When we suffer, we may feel isolated from
God, but the reality is that God is with us step-by-step…Isn't that encouraging
news?

Not only will God not leave us in our time
of suffering; but...

II.SECOND, GOD’S TIMING IS PERFECT WITH HIS
ASSSISTANCE, EVEN WHEN HE APPEARS CATASTROPHICALLY LATE.

1.When
we suffer, we naturally want God to immediately take away our pain.But sometimes, He can be agonizingly slow in
solving the problems that we bring to His attention.

2.But
even though at times God seems to be late with His assistance, I would like to
say that His timing is always perfect.

Let me illustrate this by looking at the
story of Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus, as told in John
11.The members of
this little family were among Jesus’ closest friends during the time of His
earthly ministry.In fact, verse
5 says, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and
Lazarus.”

Well, one day, Lazurus became very ill,
almost to the point of death, so his sisters did the logical thing--they sent
an urgent note to Jesus, saying, “Lord, the one you love is
sick” (v. 3). Now they had every reason to believe He would immediately
respond.However, days had passed
before Jesus finally made it to Lazarus and by that time it was too late, he
had already died.

On Jesus’ arrival, we read that Martha
came to Jesus and said, “if you had been here, my brother would not
have died.”Do you think that Martha could have been a bit discouraged that Jesus
was too late?Could she have been
annoyed when He showed up because she expected Jesus to be there for them.She may have been tempted to say,” Where
have you been, Sir?You’re too late
now.You could have saved him, but
apparently there were more important things on your mind.”

Do we at times get angry at God because
of His delayed timing?

But in (v.43), Jesus performed one of His most
dramatic miracles as He called Lazarus out of the tomb.You see, Jesus was not late at all.He only appeared to be overdue.He arrived at the precise moment necessary
to fulfill the purposes of God--just as He always does.God’s purpose was fulfilled through Lazarus
because in (v. 45), we read that many Jews
because of what they had seen but their faith in Jesus.

3.You
see, Brethren, God is never late when it comes to Him handling our painful
situations.He is always on time: His
time and not our time.When we suffer,
there is a possibility that God is allowing us to go through it for His purpose
and for our own good.

In
(Rom. 5:3-4), we read that suffering will build our character.Suffering makes us stronger and better
Christians.

4.Our suffering may be
necessary and for our own good.

ILLUSTRATION:

One time, a man found a cocoon of an
emperor moth and took it home so he could watch the moth come out of the
cocoon.One day a small opening
appeared.The man sat and watched the
moth for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little
hole.Then it seemed to stop making any
progress.To the man it appeared as if
the moth had gotten as far as it could in breaking out of the cocoon and was
stuck.

Out of kindness, the man decided to help
the moth.He took a pair of scissors
and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon so that the moth could get
out.Soon the moth emerged, but it had a
swollen body and small-shriveled wings.The man continued to watch the moth, expecting that in time the wings
would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would
simultaneously, contract to its proper size.

Neither happened.In fact, that little moth spent the rest of
its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.It was never able to fly.

The man in his kindness didn't
understand that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the moth
to get though the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body
into the wings so that the moth would be ready for flight once it achieved its
freedom from the cocoon.

Just as the moth could only achieve freedom and flight as a result
of struggling, we often need to struggle to become all that God intends
for us to be.Sometimes, we wish
that God would remove our struggles and take away all the obstacles; but
just as the man crippled the emperor moth, so we would be crippled if God
did that for us.God doesn't take
away our problems and difficulties, but He promises to be with us in the
midst of them and to use them to restore us, making us into better,
stronger people.

III.LASTLY, DURING OUR TIMES OF SUFFERING, THE
MOST IMPORTANT THING TO DO IS KEEP OUR FAITH AND TRUST IN GOD.

1.When
Job lost his sons and daughters, his wealth, his servants, and was stricken
with painful soars that spanned throughout his body, it would have been easy
for him to blame God and abandon his faith.

2.However,
the Bible says that Job “fell to the ground” (Job 1:20) and worshipped
God.He held onto his
faith in God even thought his life was full of pain and agony.

3.When
we go through tough times, the most important thing for us to do is to keep our
faith in God.Faith is important to
God.

(Hebrews
11:6)“And without faith it is
impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe
that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

4.Brethren,
we must never give up on God and our faith just because we go through suffering
situations.We must “be
faithful, even to the point of death” and the Bible says that
Jesus will “give us the crown of life”
(Rev. 2:10).

5.We
should have the kind of faith that a Minister had when he found out that he had
cancer and only a few months to live.Instead of being angry with God and giving up on his faith, I want you
to notice the kind of attitude that he exhibited towards God.On his final Sunday in his church, he
preached a sermon and talked openly about his impending death.He said,

“Some of you have asked me if I’m mad at
God for this disease that has taken over my body.I’ll tell you honestly that I have nothing but love in my heart
for my Lord.He didn’t do this to me.We live in a sinful world where sickness and
death are the curse man has brought on himself.And I’m going to a better place where there will be no more
tears, no suffering, and no heartache.So don’t feel bad for me.Besides, our Lord suffered and died for our sins.Why should I not share in his
suffering?

Then he began to sing, in an old, broken
voice:

Must Jesus bear the cross alone,

And all the world go free?

No, there’s a cross for everyone,

And there’s a cross for me.

How happy are the saints above,

Who once went sorr’wing here;

But now they taste unmingled love,

And joy without a tear.

The consecrated cross I’ll bear,

Till death shall set me free,

And then go home my crown to wear,

For there’s a crown for me.”

6.His
words that morning were his last from the pulpit.He slipped into eternity a few days later.

7.This
is the kind of faith that we are to have.The kind of faith that loves God regardless of the trials and
tribulations that we face.

CONCLUSION:

1.The Bible teaches us that we are going to
suffer in many different ways.And when
we suffer, let us remember these three important principles: (a) If we are
faithful, God is present, even when He seems far away; (b) God’s timing is
perfect, even when He appears catastrophically late; and (c) During our times
of suffering, the most important thing to do is keep our faith and trust in
God.

2.If you have been suffering as of late, I
hope that this message has uplifted your spirit.If you would like for us to pray for you this morning, or if
there is someone who would life to become a Christian, won't you please come as
we arise and sing.